DARDANELLE - Students at Dardanelle Elementary School got an eye-opening experience last week during Red Ribbon Week celebrations, a program that encourages kids to stay off drugs.

With the help of local authorities, the students saw a mock trial where a teenage girl - portrayed by senior Lizza Thacker - was tried and sentenced for being found with marijuana and alcohol on her person.

The trial itself may have not been real, but it came from an actual prosecution.

The volunteers did three different performances for different grades, and the questions after each trial were varied. One group tended to focus on what kind of church services were available, while another group had several questions about the orange jumpsuit prisoners wear.

Duvall got a collected groan from all the students when she said the prisoners' day began at 5 a.m.

"You get up, have breakfast, clean your cell and go to school," Duvall said. "Then there's a break for lunch and then you go back to school. School is the highlight of the day for the prisoners, and it is a privilege."

Prisoners who don't follow the rules are put in "lock-down."

"You have to stay in your cell the entire time," Duvall said. "You even get your mat used for a bed taken away and all you have is metal to lay on. It gives you a lot of time to think."

Prisoners are sentenced up to 90 days in the jail.

"You get one 30-minute visit a week from your parents or whoever else comes to see you," Duvall said.

The mock trial was just a part of the Red Ribbon Week activities during the day. State trooper Bobby Brown of Dardanelle brought along 7-year-old police dog "Sator," who showed a demonstration of how he can find drugs.

As a team, Brown and Sator have discovered more than 3,000 pounds of drugs. There was also a representative from the Arkansas Attorney General's Office to talk to the kids.

The mock trial was shortened, but the kids got to see what actually happens in a trial. The prosecutor makes a statement, calls witnesses and then turns it over to the defense attorney. In this case, Thacker was put on the witness stand herself and was questioned by both her attorney and the prosecutor.

When Thacker returned after being found guilty, she was brought back a few minutes later in an orange jumpsuit, where Sullivan sentenced her to a 30-day prison sentence at the detention center.

Dardanelle Elementary principal Terry Laughinghouse thanked the volunteers for their time after the mock trial was over.

"If we just prevent one kid from getting involved with drugs, it was worth it," he said.